Palace Theatre, New York

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The Palace Theatre, circa 1920. The Palace is in the tall building on the right side of the photograph.

The Palace Theatre located at 1564 Broadway in New York City, is a Broadway theatre described by its owner as "the Valhalla of vaudeville." The theatre was built by Martin Beck in 1913 and opened with vaudeville shows from the Keith Circuit. From its opening to its change to cinema, the palace lured the best and brightest in vaudeville.

Designed by architects Kirchoff and Rose, Martin Beck's theatre experienced quite a few problems even before it opened. E. F. Albee, one of the main executives for B. F. Keith and his powerful vaudeville circuit, demanded that Beck turn over three-quarters of the stock in the theatre in order to use acts from the Keith circuit. In addition, Oscar Hammerstein was the only person who could offer Keith acts in that section of Broadway, so Beck paid him off with $225,000. The theatre finally opened, but it was not successful for quite some time until Keith booked French actress Sarah Bernhardt. The bookings for the Palace took off, and within a few years it was the most sought after place for vaudevillians to perform. To "play the Palace" meant that a performer had reached the top of their career.

With the rise in popularity of film and radio and the Great Depression, vaudeville began its decline, and business slackened even at the Palace. In 1929 the two-a-day vaudeville shows were increased to three. By 1932, the palace moved to four shows a day and dropped its admission price. On 16 November 1932 the Palace moved to a full bill of movies. This date is generally regarded as the death of vaudeville.

The Palace limped on, and in the 1950s the RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) chain tried to revive vaudeville with shows by such names as Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. While the shows were successful, they did not lead to a revival of vaudeville. In 1966, the Palace reopened as a legitimate theatre with the original production of the musical Sweet Charity.

As a legitimate theatre, the Palace has seen such shows as George M! and Applause and more recently shows like Will Rogers Follies in 1991, Disney's Beauty and the Beast in 1994 and Aida in 2000.

The musical All Shook Up closed at the Palace on September 25th, 2005. Lestat officially opened at the Palace on April 25, 2006, but closed on May 28, 2006 after just 72 performances (33 previews and 39 regular performances).

Legally Blonde: The Musical, a new musical adaptation of the 2001 film will begin previews at the Palace on April 3, 2007.

[edit] External links

• Broadway Theatre Guide with full show details for the Palace Theatre
• Palace Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database